Settling into Cusco
Morning comes much, much earlier in Peru! We had hardly hit the pillows when it was time to get up! 7:00 AM breakfast - fried or scrambled eggs, toast, juice, coffee... Yessss! 7:30 we boarded our coach bus to get back to the airport. We’re getting pretty good at standing in lines and waiting!
After two gate changes we took a shuttle across the tarmac to our plane for the just over 1 hour flight to Cusco - a city with about half a million people - sitting at about 11,000 feet in elevation smack dab in the middle of the Andes. And that’s no exaggeration! As we were descending for our landing, we lost sight of the city (because... Mountain!) as we snaked down in the valley to the west of the city (with a Mountain in between us and the city!). Finally as we turned to make our final approach, the narrow valley opened up and there was our runway! Our pilot knew exactly what he was doing!
This time we had a much easier time retrieving our bags - no Air Bud! And BTW, we’ve had no mishandled or lost luggage so far - thank you, Jesus! A 20 minute ride to the hotel, and we were finally at our first ministry destination: Cusco, Peru!
A scant 30 minutes after our arrival at Xima Hotel (we are really getting opportunities to develop patience!) we were able to get into our rooms, then an amazing lunch of beef steak in a marinade of onions and peppers! Soooo good! We then walked up to the plaza - the center of all the cultural activities in Cusco - for a short time of sight-seeing and picture taking, then it was off to the orphanage.
Our coach wound through narrow, steep, winding cobblestone roads upwards to the orphanage where we will be ministering. The unassuming plastered brick and concrete building is four-stories tall, built parallel to the slope on which it rests. We entered and took stairs up to their main level and into a main activities room whose ceiling was at the top of the four stories. On the walls on all four sides above this level were continuous balconies and every so often we would see little faces poke their heads over the railings to look down on us.
There were also several children (ages approximately 6 - 15) in the activities room with us....Looking at us... We needed to connect! How do you do that when language serves as a barrier rather than a connector? With hacky sacks and kick balls! Soon circles had formed and we were laughing and playing with the kids.
After a couple of minutes we were escorted by one of the orphanage’s directors, Herbert, and given a tour of the meagerly appointed facility. The short story is “La Casa de mi Padre” is a place where kids stay warm, are fed, learn their school subjects and learn about the love of Jesus. These kids, in most cases, have been abandoned by parents, are children of abuse (both physical and/or substance), or their parents have died and since then the kids have been living on the streets. La Casa de mi Padre takes them in and gives them a home and family.
We played a bit more, then we went down one more level into a small “auditorium” with a stage where the kids, fully dressed in traditional garb, had a presentation of cultural dance, song, and poetry! Of course at the end of their presentation, they begged for us to “present”! Without anything prepared, it was quickly decided to introduce them to the Cupid Shuffle and Cha Cha Slide!
We said goodbye for the day and made our way back to the plaza that is surrounded by cathedrals, cultural buildings, and of course, hundreds of street vendors!... For our dinner of fettuccini, a traditional Peruvian chicken dish, or salad.
Our first real ministry night ended back at the hotel with worship, devotions and debrief of the day. As we make our way through Ephesians on the trip, we see in a very real way, God’s great love for us “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” Eph. 1:3. We had many shout-outs for the day, reflected on a word that would encapsulate the day, and spent time “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Eph. 1:18... And then we slept!
After two gate changes we took a shuttle across the tarmac to our plane for the just over 1 hour flight to Cusco - a city with about half a million people - sitting at about 11,000 feet in elevation smack dab in the middle of the Andes. And that’s no exaggeration! As we were descending for our landing, we lost sight of the city (because... Mountain!) as we snaked down in the valley to the west of the city (with a Mountain in between us and the city!). Finally as we turned to make our final approach, the narrow valley opened up and there was our runway! Our pilot knew exactly what he was doing!
This time we had a much easier time retrieving our bags - no Air Bud! And BTW, we’ve had no mishandled or lost luggage so far - thank you, Jesus! A 20 minute ride to the hotel, and we were finally at our first ministry destination: Cusco, Peru!
A scant 30 minutes after our arrival at Xima Hotel (we are really getting opportunities to develop patience!) we were able to get into our rooms, then an amazing lunch of beef steak in a marinade of onions and peppers! Soooo good! We then walked up to the plaza - the center of all the cultural activities in Cusco - for a short time of sight-seeing and picture taking, then it was off to the orphanage.
Our coach wound through narrow, steep, winding cobblestone roads upwards to the orphanage where we will be ministering. The unassuming plastered brick and concrete building is four-stories tall, built parallel to the slope on which it rests. We entered and took stairs up to their main level and into a main activities room whose ceiling was at the top of the four stories. On the walls on all four sides above this level were continuous balconies and every so often we would see little faces poke their heads over the railings to look down on us.
There were also several children (ages approximately 6 - 15) in the activities room with us....Looking at us... We needed to connect! How do you do that when language serves as a barrier rather than a connector? With hacky sacks and kick balls! Soon circles had formed and we were laughing and playing with the kids.
After a couple of minutes we were escorted by one of the orphanage’s directors, Herbert, and given a tour of the meagerly appointed facility. The short story is “La Casa de mi Padre” is a place where kids stay warm, are fed, learn their school subjects and learn about the love of Jesus. These kids, in most cases, have been abandoned by parents, are children of abuse (both physical and/or substance), or their parents have died and since then the kids have been living on the streets. La Casa de mi Padre takes them in and gives them a home and family.
We played a bit more, then we went down one more level into a small “auditorium” with a stage where the kids, fully dressed in traditional garb, had a presentation of cultural dance, song, and poetry! Of course at the end of their presentation, they begged for us to “present”! Without anything prepared, it was quickly decided to introduce them to the Cupid Shuffle and Cha Cha Slide!
We said goodbye for the day and made our way back to the plaza that is surrounded by cathedrals, cultural buildings, and of course, hundreds of street vendors!... For our dinner of fettuccini, a traditional Peruvian chicken dish, or salad.
Our first real ministry night ended back at the hotel with worship, devotions and debrief of the day. As we make our way through Ephesians on the trip, we see in a very real way, God’s great love for us “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” Eph. 1:3. We had many shout-outs for the day, reflected on a word that would encapsulate the day, and spent time “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Eph. 1:18... And then we slept!
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